One of the loops I follow had a recent conversation about copyright law, and I realized I’d never written about it. So that’s what we’ll talk about today.
First, the disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and I’ve never even played one on TV! But through the years I’ve learned that much of what I initially believed about copyright law was incorrect. You need to know the truth.
1. You do not have to register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office in order for your project to be copyright-protected. Once you create your work in a tangible, fixed form, it is automatically protected.
2. Contrary to what many think, registering with the U.S. Copyright Office does not prevent the bad guys from copying your stuff. If they’re going to do it, they will.
3. If bad guys do copy your material, the FBI isn’t likely to come after them and put their photos up in the Post Office. Most of the time, the culprits will get in trouble only if you decide to spend the money to take them to court. The copyright office website says, “Copyright infringement is generally a civil matter, which the copyright owner must pursue in federal court” but also states, “In cases of willful infringement for profit, the U.S. Attorney may initiate a criminal investigation.”
4. If you’ve registered your work with the U.S. Copyright Office and then it’s stolen and you decide to pursue it, your official registration will be the highest level of proof that it is your creation. If filed early enough, registration may increase the amount of your award.
5. When I started out, I was told that we could copy 400 words without consent, but that is incorrect. There are no specific numbers. It all boils down to the intent and the proportion. According to the copyright office, it’s generally accepted that quoting a small passage (a few sentences or short paragraph) from a book-length project and giving credit to the author, is considered “Fair Use,” especially in cases of “…commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports.” Most authors love discovering that their words are worthy of repeating, and a few sentences is an extremely small amount of the total word count of a book. However, a few sentences of a poem or a verse of a song would be a huge portion of the finished product and would most likely be considered an infringement.
How can you protect yourself and your work?
1. Place the copyright symbol (©), the year of publication, and your name on anything you’ve created, especially if it’s posted or shared with others. To find the copyright symbol in Word, go to Insert, click on Symbol, put the cursor where you want the symbol to be placed and click on the copyright symbol.
2. Know that just because you put this symbol on your work does not mean it will not be infringed upon, it’s just another reminder to the reader that you own the copyright.
3. Place a reminder on your blog that the material (text, original photos, etc) is copyrighted and should not be copied without written consent from you.
4. Google your title or a unique phrase within your work to see if it shows up at an unknown site. It may even be listed with someone else’s byline. Then check the piece to see if it’s your work. But remember, copyright only protects specific words in a specific order. Titles, ideas, and general points of view cannot be copyrighted.
5. If the Google search reveals your work has been used without permission, you have a decision to make. You can either tell them to remove it or you can give them permission to use it as long as they include your byline. I had that happen back in 2002 or so. I found an exact word-for-word copy of one of my articles without my byline on a website in India. I told them I was glad they liked my article and I would be happy to give them permission to post it if they added my byline. I wrote twice and never got a reply. They knew I would never spend the money to pursue charges for an article posted in India. I had to choose to let it go.
6. And the so-called “poor man’s copyright registration” of mailing a copy of your work to yourself does not give any greater support for copyright than simply having it written in a fixed form.
Miscellaneous details:
1. Remember that intent factors into the discussion. Are you using someone’s material for your financial gain or claiming it as your own? That’s infringement. Are you copying a book cover to include in your positive interview with the author? That’s acceptable and expected.
2. You do not need permission to post a link to other posted material. You’re not copying it or claiming it as your own. After all, we love it when people link to our sites!
3. Remember that photos are protected under copyright law, so be sure you have permission before you copy and save that great photo for your blog or website!
4. Some free stock photos sites include: Paid sites include
5. Important note: The term, Royalty-free, does not necessarily mean the photos are free.
Believe me, this is just a tiny look at the subject of copyright. The detailed laws are way too complicated for me to understand or explain, but you can find simple answers to most of your questions under Frequently Asked Questions About Copyright.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June Writing Opportunities
Marilyn Shipe and I have compiled another great list of writing opportunities for you. (Thanks, Marilyn!) Can’t wait to see what results come out of this one!
1. Chicken Soup has call-outs for lots of stories with summer deadlines
2. Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards Deadline: December 1, 2011
3. Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest . Write a poem, 30 lines or fewer on any subject or write a short story, 5 pages max., on any theme, single or double-line spacing, neatly hand printed or typed. Entry fees: $5 per poem, $10 per story. Writing Contest First Prize: $500; 2nd: $250; 3rd: $100. Poetry Contest First Prize: $250; 2nd: $125; 3rd: $50. Postmark deadline: July 31, 2011. Visit the Dream Quest One website for details and to enter!
4. Glimmer Train awards over $45,000 per year for stories, nearly a third of that to emerging writers. (Please submit online by the end of the month.)
5. Faithwriters is an encouraging community of Christian writers. A great place to learn and grow in a safe, caring environment.
6. All Freelance Writing Writer’s Markets is a directory of paying freelance writers’ markets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Upcoming Conference Opportunities
I’m personally involved in the following upcoming conferences and workshops and would love to have you join us:
1. Gideon Media Arts Conference and Film Festival, August 6-11, 2011, Ridgecrest, NC Interested in acting, screenwriting, film from a Christian worldview? Join us at the Gid and you can learn from working Christian professionals and meet others just like you!
2. NCompass Writing Retreat, September 29-October 2, 2011, Lake Keowee, SC This will be the 9th annual Writing Retreat led by Edie Melson and me, but this year we’re moving to a larger facility and–for the first time–men are invited! AND we have two full conference scholarships donated by the Cecil Murphey Scholarship Fund! Thank you to Cec and the team for your generosity! Click here for the Cecil Murphey Scholarship Application. But you must hurry, the deadline for receipt of the scholarship application is July 10, 2011. Be sure to check out Cec’s Website and his WritertoWriter instructional blog. Also, we’re offering a Bonus day September 28: Destination:Speaker, for those of you who want to learn how to add speaking to your resume.
3. Christian Communicators Conference, October 26-20, 2011, Lake Keowee, SC
And ladies, if you feel called to be a Christian speaker, Carolyn Knefely and I hope you’ll join us at the second Christian Communicators Conference. You can check out the Christian Communicators Conference information packet here. And if you’re interested in a Cec Murphey Scholarship, feel free to download the Cecil Murphey Scholarship Application for the Christian Communicators Conference here. We still have a few openings in each most types of lodging (no twins left), but openings are filling up fast, so please register as soon as possible. If you make your reservation and then receive a Cec Murphey Scholarship, your deposit will be refunded. We’re also offering a Writing Workshop Bonus Day October 25. See the information packet for more details.
And here are some other great conference opportunities, I’ve been a part of:
4. St. David’s Christian Writers’ Conference, June 21-25, 2011, Grove City, PA
5. Christian Authors Guild Conference, September 8-10, 2011, Gwinnette, GA area
6. North Texas Christian Writers Conference, September 16-17, 2011, Keller, TX
7. Southwest Christian Writers Studio, October 17-21, Glorieta, NM (I haven’t taught at this one, but I’ve taught at its sister conference, Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, for many years)
8. CLASS Christian Writers Conference, November 2-6, 2011, Abiquiu, NM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are You MoGoing in June?
June is half over. How are you doing on your MoGo goal? Somebody’s gonna win $100, it might as well be you!
If you don’t know about MoGo7000, you’re missing a great opportunity to get your book written and have multiple chances to win $100 in cold, hard cash! Check out the MoGo7000 guidelines here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Parting Words from The Word…
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 24-25
I pray God’s blessing on the work of your hands and your hearts,
Vonda
